GOLF
Sharma finishes 66th as Byeong An beats Kim to Genesis title
It was another disappointing week for Shubhankar Sharma, whose weekend rounds of 76-76 saw him finish tied-66th at the Genesis Championship on the DP World Tour.
Earlier, Sharma had rounds of 71 and 68.
Korea’s Byeong Hun An beat fellow countryman Tom Kim in the play-off to secure his second DP World Tour title.
Birdies kept pouring throughout the day as six players held the lead in some capacity at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club on Sunday.
The group at the top of the leaderboard was closely packed until Kim jumped one shot clear heading down the last when An lipped out for a bogey on the penultimate hole.
Both landed their approach shots to eight feet for birdie putts, with An applying the pressure by draining his effort to move back alongside Kim at 17 under.
Kim needed to sink his to claim the one-shot victory, but he lipped out and the two home favourites were forced into a play-off.
Both played risky second shots when replaying the par-five last, but Kim was left in a precarious position which resulted in him shooting into the main stand with his third and carding a bogey.
An had two putts for the title on home soil and only needed one to seal his first victory on the DP World Tour since lifting the 2015 BMW PGA Championship, nine years and 156 days ago.
Ricardo Gouveia, who began the week in 154th place on the Race to Dubai Rankings, recorded his first top-20 finish of the campaign with a brilliant third at 16-under to earn his playing rights for next season.
Antoine Rozner was one shot further back, Italian Guido Migliozzi carded the lowest final round of the day with a flawless 65 to sit at 14 under, while Francesco Laporta, first-round leader Ivan Cantero and South African Casey Jarvis were two more adrift.
-PTI
Rayhan Thomas finishes seventh in Thailand
India’s Rayhan Thomas registered a second top-10 finish on the Asian Tour, ending up tied-seventh at the International Series Thailand after being three off the lead after 54 holes.
The UAE-based golfer was unable to replicate the magic of the second and third rounds of 63-64 as he shot 2-under 68 on the final day to total 16-under. He had four birdies, three of them between the 14th and the 17th.
Among the other Indians, Gaganjeet Bhullar (67) finished tied 19th and Karandeep Kochhar (67) tied-24.
Chinese-Taipei’s Lee Chieh-po finally claimed his maiden title on the Asian Tour after sensationally overtaking hot favourite Peter Uihlein at the very end. Lee birdied the final two holes at the Thai Country Club to beat Uihlein, after the American had led from the second day.
The champion, playing in the penultimate group, fired a seven-under-par 63 to finish on 21-under, while Uihlein closed with a 67 to tie for second place with Canadian Richard T. Lee, who carded a 62.
The 29-year-old grew up playing golf with Kevin Yu, a winner on the PGA Tour this year, and sees him as an inspiration.
For Richard T. Lee it was yet another near miss. Since the Tour resumed after the global pandemic, he finished second twice, third on three occasions and has been in the running on numerous occasions.
Last week’s winner of the Black Mountain Championship Michael ‘MJ’ Maguire closed with a 62 to tie for fourth, three behind the winner, along with fellow Americans Paul Peterson, in with a 63, and Christian Banke, who fired a 64.
The action shifts to next week’s BNI Indonesian Masters where India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar is the defending champion.
-PTI
Delhi Golf Club League 2024: Tee Birds and MMG Coca-Cola declared joint-winners.
Joint winners of the Delhi Golf Club league.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
Joint winners of the Delhi Golf Club league.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
Tee Birds and MMG Coca-Cola were declared joint winners in the Lloyd Delhi Golf Club league.
The two teams were tied 3-3 with identical points tally of 3.5 each. After the play-off could not break the tie after the two teams successfully negotiated five holes, the organisers opted to declare them as joint winners, especially considering the fading light.
In the match for third place, Dayal Opticals beat Sara Golf Code in the first play-off hole after the two teams were tied 3-3.
The league had 456 participants in 24 teams.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
RACKET SPORTS
Chaufla secures silver at All India Racketlon Open
India’s Vikramaditya Chaufla had to settle for a silver medal after going down fighting against UAE’s Mohammed Kuba in the All India Racketlon Open here.
Chaufla, who is India’s highest-ranked racketlon player and has taken part in multiple world championships, ended on the podium alongside gold winner Kuba and third-place Adit Patel in the premier men’s singles event of the tournament. The finals took place on Sunday.
Racketlon is a combination sport in which the competitors are required to play four racket sports: table tennis, badminton, tennis and squash.
Naheed Divecha won the women’s singles title ahead of Shikha Barasia and Tara Bhandare.
In the men’s singles 40-plus category, Nikhil Bhandare won the gold ahead of Varun Motasha and Akshay Jalan.
Krishna B Kotak, the founder of Racketlon India Sports Association (RISA), topped the men’s singles 60-plus category ahead of Sant Swaroop Sharma and Kurimilla Devi.
-PTI
Shonu Tsunkamoto bags open title, Yurina Abe wins women’s title at Asian Crossminton Championship
Two-time World Champion Yurina Abe of Japan won the women’s title in the second Asian Crossminton Championship at the Indus Valley Public School.
Yurina won all her league matches to emerge triumphant and defended her crown that she had won in the last Asian championship.
The open title was bagged by Shonu Tsunkamoto of Japan as he beat Adesh Saini 14-16, 16-6, 17-15 in the final. Yurina and Shonu also won the mixed doubles title.
Janya Slaria (under-18), Engel (under-16)and Aadya Slaria (under-12) won the girls titles by sweeping the league matches.
The other results:
Boys (finals):
Under-18: Jashandeep Singh bt Rachit Dhingra 16-7, 15-16, 16-14.
Under-16: Vedansh Lohani bt Swastik Rana 16-10, 16-7.
Under-14: AR Nithik bt Prince Arya 14-16, 16-12, 16-12.
Under-12: Gaurav Arya bt Azaan Safi 16-8, 16-13.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
POLO
Baria Cup polo tournament: Achievers beat RVC
Daniel Otamendi struck seven goals in powering Achievers to 12 goals to 6 ½ victory over Navy-Remount Veterinary Corps (RVC) in a league match of the Baria Cup polo tournament at the Army Equestrian Centre, Delhi Cantonment, on Monday.
The results:
Cav-Navy 9 (Dhruvpal Godara 5, Vishal Chauhan 2, ARS Warraich 2) bt Sahgal Stud 6 (Samir Suhag 4, Gaurav Sahgal, Bautista Alberdi).
Achievers 12 (Daniel Otamendi 7, Vishwarupe Bajaj 2, Salim Azmi 2, Aryaman Singh) bt Navy-RVC (Hurr Ali 2, D Santosh, Yallappa Godi, handicap 2 ½)
-Kamesh Srinivasan
HOCKEY
Nehru Junior Tournament: GV Raja Sports School beat Government Model Senior Secondary School
GV Raja Sports School, Thiruvananthapuram, eked out a 3-2 victory over Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector-18C, Chandigarh, in a league match of the Charanjit Rai 30th Nehru girls hockey tournament at the Shivaji Stadium on Monday.
It was the second successive victory for the Kerala team.
The results (league):
One Thousand Hockey Legs 18 (Anjni 4, Vanshika Sharma 3, Laxmi Kumari 3, Prachi Pandey 3, Megha 2, Nasmina Talukdar 2, Neha Devi) bt Vidya Devi Jindal School, Hisar, 0.
Government Inter College, BHEL, Haridwar, 6 (Kehkasha Ali 3, Meenakshi 2, Gungun Katariya) bt Government Girls SSS, Shastri Nagar, Patna, 3 (Rishu Kumari 3).
Khalsa Girls SSS, Amritsar, 3 (Divya Devgan, Bhumika Sharma, Laxmi) bt St. Anthony HS, Bardez, Goa, 0.
GV Raja Sports School, Thiruvananthapuram, 3 (KV Shaniya, Sriya Rasheen, Merin Binoy) bt Government Model SSS, Sector-18C, Chandigarh, 2 (Tamanna, Annu).
-Kamesh Srinivasan
MOTORSPORT
Rivaan Dev Preetham becomes first Indian to win a race at FIA Motorsport Games
Rivaan Dev Preetham in action at the FIA Motorsport Games in Valencia, Spain, on Monday.
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Rivaan Dev Preetham in action at the FIA Motorsport Games in Valencia, Spain, on Monday.
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Rivaan Dev Preetham, two-time Indian National Karting Champion, made history as the first Indian driver to win a race at the FIA Motorsport Games, one of the most prestigious global motorsport events.
Rivaan, competing in the Karting Mini category, began the event with a strong P2 in qualifying. The heat races presented a series of highs and challenges. After a solid P5 finish in his first heat, Rivaan faced a setback in the second race, where he was taken out while fighting for P4, impacting his overall grid position. Despite this, he made a stunning comeback in the final heat race, clinching a thrilling victory that secured him a competitive start for the final.
In the final, Rivaan started P8 in a highly skilled field of international drivers. Battling fiercely through the laps, he finished first.
-Team Sportstar